Attendance

• Parents/carers are asked to contact the school on the first day of absence to provide the reason for the absence and where possible on each subsequent day of absence. 
• Where Office Staff are not made aware of the reason for a child’s absence they will, wherever possible, contact parents/carers by telephone on the first day of absence.
• If any member of staff is concerned about a reason for absence, the Vice Principal or Principal should be informed.
• If a child is kept off from school due to illness for 4 or more days and medical advice has not been sought (proof of which will need to be provided) then we would not be able to authorise these days. For some illnesses, such as chickenpox, the school will seek advice from the Department of Health.

• Absence from school due to a medical or dental appointment will be considered as an authorised absence. Parents/carers are requested to provide written confirmation of these appointments (Appointment Card, letter inviting to appointment etc)
• Parents/carers are encouraged to make all medical appointments out of school hours

The 1996 Education Act clearly states; ‘If any child of compulsory school age, who is a registered pupil at a school, fails to attend regularly, the parents/carer of the child shall be guilty of an offence’. The Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 also introduced the use of penalty notices as an additional sanction to address the problem of poor school attendance. Failure to ensure your child’s regular attendance at school may result in prosecution in the courts or a penalty notice being issued.

If your child’s attendance becomes a concern, you will be invited to an Attendance meeting with the Principal and Attendance officer and if your child’s attendance continues to be a concern, we will then request medical evidence. If your child is put onto medical evidence, please be aware that this will continue through their subsequent years at the school. 

In the event of 10 unauthorised sessions recorded with no medical evidence for any absences taken , a referral may be made to the Attendance Advisory Service for Schools and Academies (AASSA).

Ten unauthorised sessions of absence (including Holiday (G) / Unauthorised Absence (O) / Unauthorised Late (U)) may result in a request to the Local Authority for a Penalty Notice to be issued.  Penalty Notices are issued to each parent of each child and the amount of the penalty will be £160 if paid within 28 days, reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days. Failure to pay the penalty in full at the end of the 28 day period may result in prosecution through the Magistrates Court.

If a second penalty notice is issued within a rolling 3-year period, then the charge will be at a flat rate of £160 per parent per child if paid within 28 days.

Failure to pay the penalty in full at the end of the 28 day period may result in prosecution through the Magistrates Court.

In the event of three or more periods of unauthorised absence within a 3 rolling year period, a penalty notice will not be issued. A statutory attendance referral may be made to the Attendance Advisory Service for Schools and Academies AASSA at Medway and may result in prosecution.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65f1b048133c22b8eecd38f7/
Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance__applies_from_19_August_2024_.pdf

Revised regulations on education from September 2013 state that no holidays will be authorised in term time unless there are exceptional circumstances. In light of this the Governors have taken the decision that under no circumstances will holidays during term time be authorised. A pupil’s absence during term time can seriously disrupt their continuity or learning. Not only do they miss the teaching provided on the days they are away, they are also less prepared for the lessons on their return. If the holiday is for 5 consecutive days or more there may be a referral to the Attendance Advisory Service for Schools and Academies AASSA at Medway who will issue a Penalty Notice.

Ten unauthorised sessions of absence (including Holiday (G) / Unauthorised Absence (O) / Unauthorised Late (U)) may result in a request to the Local Authority for a Penalty Notice to be issued.  Penalty Notices are issued to each parent of each child and the amount of the penalty will be £160 if paid within 28 days, reduced to £80 if paid within 21 days. Failure to pay the penalty in full at the end of the 28 day period may result in prosecution through the Magistrates Court.

If a second penalty notice is issued within a rolling 3-year period, then the charge will be at a flat rate of £160 per parent per child if paid within 28 days.

Failure to pay the penalty in full at the end of the 28 day period may result in prosecution through the Magistrates Court.

In the event of three or more periods of unauthorised absence within a 3 rolling year period, a penalty notice will not be issued. A statutory attendance referral may be made to the Attendance Advisory Service for Schools and Academies AASSA at Medway and may result in prosecution.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65f1b048133c22b8eecd38f7/
Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance__applies_from_19_August_2024_.pdf

No holidays will be considered for authorisation unless parents/carers have contacted the Principal by letter or email to request holiday and given reasons for it. The Principal will consider all requests individually and will ONLY authorise in exceptional circumstances but will otherwise not authorise holidays taken during term time as set out above. 

In some instances, there may be a need to apply for leave for special circumstances and these will be considered on an individual basis and a decision will be made to authorise or un-authorise the absence.

There are rare occasions when perhaps due to an emergency, parents are not able to collect their children promptly from school, or make arrangements for their collection at the end of the school day. If the child is not collected, the school will make enquiries to find the parents using the emergency contact numbers provided by the parents. If after one hour it has not been possible to contact parents/carers then the local Police will be informed of the situation. The Principal will also contact the Referral Team at Social Services to inform them of a possible problem.

All absences both authorised and unauthorised and lateness will be reported to the parent/carer at the end of the year within their child’s report. Parents will also be able to access their daily attendance through the use of the app My Child at School. 

We aim to raise and maintain levels of attendance by:

• Promoting a positive and welcoming atmosphere in which pupils feel safe, secure and valued
• Raising the awareness of the importance of a differentiated and relevant curriculum
• Promoting opportunities to celebrate and reward pupil’s successes and achievements.
• Raising awareness of the importance of good attendance and promoting the school’s expectation is of 96% or above attendance. 
• Ensuring that attendance is monitored effectively and reasons for absence are recorded promptly and consistently

If parents/carers decide to transfer their child to another school or Academy, they should advise the school office as a matter of priority, providing all necessary details, including any new address (if relevant) and the school or Academy the child is transferring to. When in the process of a school or Academy transfer the child must continue to attend Peninsula East Primary Academy until a start date has been agreed with the new school or Academy. If the Academy does not receive this information and a child stops attending, he or she becomes a ‘Child Missing Education’ (CME). Any child in this category is reported to the Child Missing Education Officer at the Local Authority, who will follow up the matter under safeguarding legislation.

As per The School Attendance (Pupil Registration)(England) Regulations 2024 – Section 9, when all possible actions have been taken we will remove the student from the academy roll due to continued serious absence.

• The pupil has not attended the school within the ten school days immediately after the end of the period of leave and the proprietor does not have reasonable grounds to believe that the pupil is unable to attend because of sickness or an unavoidable cause; and the proprietor and the local authority have jointly made reasonable efforts to find out the pupil’s location and circumstances. If unable to establish the pupil’s whereabouts we will remove from roll.
• The pupil has been continuously absent from the school for at least twenty school days and the proprietor does not have reasonable grounds to believe that the pupil is unable to attend because of sickness or an unavoidable cause; and the proprietor and the local authority have jointly made reasonable efforts to find out the pupil’s location and circumstances. If unable to establish the pupil’s whereabouts we will remove from roll.
• https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2024/208/regulation/9/made

• DFE: Education for children with health needs who cannot attend school

This guidance relates to local authorities statutory duties under section 19 of the Education Act 1996. The section 19(1) duty states that local authorities are responsible for arranging suitable and (normally) full-time education for children of compulsory school age who, because of exclusion, illness or other reasons, would not receive suitable education without such provision.

This means that where a child cannot attend school because of a physical or mental health need, has medical evidence and cannot access suitable full-time education, the local authority is responsible for arranging suitable alternative provision.

Where possible, the child’s health needs should be managed by the home school so that they can continue to be educated there with support, and without the need for the intervention of the local authority. However, as soon as it is clear that the home school can no longer support the child’s health needs and provide suitable education, the school should speak to the local authority about putting alternative provision in place.

There is no absolute legal deadline by which local authorities must start to arrange education for children with additional health needs. However, as soon as it is clear that a child will be away from school for 15 days or more because of their health needs, the local authority should arrange suitable alternative provision. The 15 days may be consecutive or over the course of a school year.

Where full-time education would not be in a child’s best interests for reasons relating to their physical or mental health, local authorities must arrange part-time education on whatever basis they consider to be in the child’s best interests.

The Academy will operate according to its statutory duties under section 19 of the Education Act 1996 and DFE: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65f1b048133c22b8eecd38f7/
Working_together_to_improve_school_attendance__applies_from_19_August_2024_.pdf

The following codes will be used to indicate the reason for absence:

•  / Present (AM) Present (PM) 
• B Educated off site (NOT at an alternative provision) 
• C Other Authorised Circumstances 
• C1: Leave of absence for the purpose of participating in a regulated
• performance or undertaking regulated employment abroad.
• C2 Leave of absence for a compulsory school age pupil subject to a part-time timetable
• D Dual registration (i.e. student attending other establishment) 
• E Excluded (no alternative provision made) 
• G Family holiday (NOT agreed or days in excess of agreement) 
• I Illness (NOT medical or dental etc. appointments) 
• J1 Leave of absence for the purpose of attending an interview for
• employment or for admission to another educational institution 
• K Attending education provision arranged by the local authority (section 19)
• L Late (before registers closed) 
• M Medical/Dental appointments 
• N No reason yet provided for absence 
• O Unauthorised absence (not covered by any other code/description) 
• P Approved sporting activity 
• Q Unable to attend the school because of a lack of access arrangements (travel pass delays via local authority)
• R Religious observance 
• S Study leave 
• T Traveller absence 
• U Late (after registers closed) 
• V Educational visit or trip 
• W Work experience 
• X Non-compulsory school age absence 
• Y1 Unable to attend due to transport normally provided not being available
• Y2 Unable to attend due to widespread disruption to travel
• Y3 Unable to attend due to part of the school premises being closed
• Y4 Unable to attend due to the whole school site being unexpectedly closed
• Y5 Unable to attend as pupil is in criminal justice detention
• Y6 Unable to attend in accordance with public health guidance or law
• Y7 Unable to attend because of any other unavoidable cause (emergency situations only)
• Z Student not yet on roll 
• # School closed to students

Attendance data will be analysed to establish patterns of irregular attendance. This will include children with:

• Incomplete weeks
• Monday and Friday absences
• Lateness
• Periods of extended absence 
• Periods of unauthorised absence
• Children with attendance below 90% 
• This data will be discussed with the Attendance Practitioner as part of the regular meetings held at school.

The Head of School and Attendance Practitioner will discuss the impact of the School’s Attendance Policy and the strategies used to promote good attendance annually.